lord, by seeing in the united states of america your free children working together, mayday in all the world give banks -- thanks and give you glory, now and forever, amen. >> amen. >> this is a serious time for our nation. it is a time for anxiety for millions of our fellow citizens. frankly, for many americans, it is a time of anger. they believe the government has stopped listening to them. the people are supposed to be in we hope to restore the bonds of trust, and we share the responsibility of listening to the american people. they are the ones who put us in power. in addition to listening to the people, we also need to listen to each other. it is in that spirit, mr. president, that we invite you here today, and we're very grateful that you have accepted. in january, 2009, i promised that the republicans would stand with you when we believe your policies were in the best interest of our country. when it came to afghanistan, iraq, charter schools, teacher quality -- we did just that. when we disagreed, as we have on some major issues, i said that republicans would not just be the p